I Wanna Go Back to Michigan

How did Michigan get a top five NFL coach to come back to college? There's actually one word for it: passion.

The school is so passionate about football that it was willing to give Harbaugh whatever tools and control he asked for. The big money donors are so passionate that they offered to finance NFL-/Saban-like money for Harbaugh and a top-echelon staff. The fans are so passionate that they flooded onto every message board and commented on every medium every time some writer or TV person seemed likely to breath so much as "Har…" Jim's friends and former teammates are so passionate that they reportedly formed a train of callers and kept up an unrelenting press since November. And finally Jim is so passionate about his school that he gave up/set aside his (apparently real) NFL aspirations to come back to the farm.

College doesn't have the NFL's money, nor its cachet, nor is it the pinnacle of the sport. But the thing about college football is we care way more. That's why it happened.

I can't sleep! We are living at a great moment in time as Michigan Football fans! Harbaugh will dominate the BIG and shove it down the throat of OSU. All the while elevating the BIG into the #1 Conference through competition...eat it SEC.

Seth says that CFB doesn't have the NFL's cachet. While views on this may be regional, I don't think this is right at all. A top tier program's prestige (think Michigan, Notre Dame, Alabama, Nebraska, Texas, pre-scandal PSU, Army, Navy, USC, Ohio State, etc.) greatly exceeds that of the typical NFL team.

as measured by TV ratings typically preeminent NFL games are top rated of all shows not just sports shows. The super bowl is THE perennial top rated program of the year by far. As rated by revenue estimates for the NFL top 8 billion annually. Now thats some cash-cachet!! I agree that college FB is very popular rivaling some other pro sports but its not even close to the NFL...yet.

There's a classic Michigan song I learned in glee club years back called "I wanna go back to Michigan", thought this was it. The lyrics are as follows.

I wanna go back to Michigan, to dear Ann Arbor town
Back to Joe's and the Orient, and back to some of the money I spent
I wanna go back to Michigan, to dean Ann Arbor town
I wanna go back, I gotta go back to Michigan

Oh, mother and father paid all the bills, and we had all the fun
In the friendly rivalry of college life, hoorah and
We have to figure a helluva lot to tell what we have done
With the coin we blew at dear old Michigan.

It is difficult to find recordings/footage of the UM "I Want To Go Back To Michigan" on the Intertubes, unless you know what to look for. Traditionally, it is sung as the third part of the Michigan Medley, comprised of "'Tis of Michigan; A Toast to Michigan; and I Want to Go Back to Michigan".

I've been insane OCD about this coaching search. I've commented as often as I could on every article, verbally b*tch-slapped every nay-sayer, and tweeted with Bacon while eating bacon. Michigan fans, from boosters to alumni to "Walmart Wolverines" like myself grew up with and love this team. We're emotionally invested like no pro fan could possibly imagine.

Well said. I couldn't be happier right now. Grew up watching the legendary Bo lead us to championships and now I am ready to watch Jim bring us back to greatness. Still have fond memories of the one and only time I entered Columbus to watch a football game. I remember our then Quarterback Jim Harbaugh guaranteeing a victory over Ohio State and then delivering it right before my eyes. One of the greatest sports memories of my life. Got a feeling we are about to experience many more. Go Blue!

Love this. As someone who has lived in the south for 10+ years, I am so sick of the SEC and their fans who think that college football starts and ends in the southeastern part of the country. The passion that has been shown during this coaching search is proof that football matters elsewhere.

I have been stuck down in South Carolina for almost 9 years. Its been painful to not only live in SEC Country during NCAAF season, but also to live down here during the last 8 year curse our Program seemed to be in the middle of since Nov 17, 2006. This hire is epic. To call it a "grand slam" hire even seems to fail to capture how huge this is. Its like Mosses parting the fuckin seas kind of huge! J.H is a rock star. He is in the upper echelon of football coaches amongst the likes of Pete Carroll, Nick Saban, and Bill Belickick. Jim Harbaugh is bigger and greater than even Urban Meyer. Jim has succeeded at every level. And his passion and allegiance for Michigan cannot be questioned. Its not about the money. If he wanted to stay in the NFL, he could have gotten the payday. This is more. This is a pilgramage for Jim. Welcome home, coach! You have made millions of Michigan faithful very happy today...

In case Coach Harbaugh needs this information for any reason, next years game (at home) against the Sparty's is in 291 days (from Tuesday Dec 30) and the game against OSU (also at home) is in 333 days from Tuesday. (If someone wants to check my math - please do.)

I still can't believe this happened. I am exhausted with anticipation. Great year to be a M fan. Cannot believe I would have said that a few weeks back. Wolverine Devotee gets all my appreciation. He changed the negative tide.

I think even Kawakami people like to bash on here finally agreed that the passion Michigan fans had shown through this "process" could not be matched by any pro team.
But Seth, one thing - Stanford is "the farm". We DON'T want JH going back there!

My cool story bro, story. When he runs it in at the 36 second mark if they showed five more seconds you would see a ~10 year old uncwolverine slapping harbaugh on the helmet at his first ever Michigan football game. The rest is history.

There are a lot of metaphors for the Harbaugh to Michigan story. The Return of the Prodigal Son, of course, is probably most directly appropriate.

But the other one js A Christmas Story. The collective fan base is Ralphie and Harbaugh is our Red Ryder BB gun. Despite being told a bajillion times that we'd shoot our eye out, kid, we get to enjoy the greatest Christmas present we "have ever received or will ever receive."